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tagged 'cyberbullying'

Anti-Bullying Week shines a spotlight on bullying and encourages all children, teachers and parents to take action against bullying throughout the year.

Anti-Bullying Week was started by the Anti-Bullying Alliance in the early 2000s as a way of focussing the attention of schools on tackling bullying between children and young people.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance consults with its members and children and young people to decide the theme each Spring. This year the theme is Power for Good.

The key aims of the 2016 campaign are:

To support children and young people to use their Power for Good – by understanding the ways in which they are powerful and encouraging individual and collective action to stop bullying and create the best world possible.

To help parents and carers to use their Power for Good – through supporting children with issues relating to bullying and working together with schools to stop bullying.

To encourage all teachers, school support staff and youth workers to use their Power for Good – by valuing the difference they can make in a child’s life, and taking individual and collective action to prevent bullying and create safe environments where children can thrive.

Anti-Bullying Week for TeachersThe aim of the campaign is not just to raise awareness of bullying for one week each year but to support teachers in preventing and responding to bullying throughout the year.

This year the Anti-bullying Alliance want every teacher, member of school staff and children's worker to know what a difference they make in children's lives. Children tell the ABA how much it means to them when teachers believe them, when they support them, and when they work with them to resolve bullying issues. For the first time the ABA have launched a Power for Good Award to celebrate those teachers and school staff that go beyond the call of duty to provide pastoral care for pupils with issues relating to bullying. The ABA want to celebrate those teachers that are changing children's lives for the better and encourage all teachers and schools staff to use their Power for Good.

How can you get involved in Anti-Bullying Week 2016?

Register for Anti-Bullying Week updates by joining the free ABA School or College Network.

Download the Anti-Bullying Week logos and share on your websites and newsletters.

Holiday tips to share with parents to help children to avoid online risks

As wonderful as the Internet can be for helping our children to learn new things, and connect with relatives throughout the globe, it also opens up a range of new potential threats that we, as teachers, need to protect them from.

Thanks to the popularity of social media and communication-based websites, cyber bullying has grown increasingly common over the recent years with *thousands of children in the UK affected.

You can’t monitor a child’s behaviour in the online world at all times, particularly so during school holidays, so what can parents do to help protect your pupils against the threats that plague the Internet today? We spoke to Rebekah Carter from Broadband Genie about some of the steps parents can take to keep kids safe online.

Step 1: Speak to Your Child

First and foremost, the fight against cyber bullying requires parents to maintain an open, and honest path of communication with their children. Parents should make sure that their kids know that they can speak to them if they’re feeling threatened by anyone, or anything when they’re browsing the Internet, and ensure that they’re aware that parents aren’t going to blame them for any problems, or overreact to an issue.

The more comfortable their children are with the idea of speaking to them, the more likely it is that they will be able to address an issue of cyber bullying in its earliest stages - before the problem is allowed to progress.

Step 2: Supervise Where You Can

Many parents pay close attention to what their children do throughout the day - including who they play with at school, and what extracurricular activities they are involved in. So why not get involved with their cyber-lives too? They can find out which social networks their children use and friend or follow them so that parents can carefully supervise who they talk to, and what they do.

Parents should make sure however, to not smother their children with constant supervision, otherwise children may start using fake accounts and sites without their knowledge in an attempt to avoid their parent’s constant presence.

Step 3: Work with Schools and Set Limits

Most schools work to teach children about the threat of real-world bullies, and how they should deal with bullies if they are ever approached by one. Parents should tell the administrators and teachers in the school if they’re concerned about the issue of cyber bullying or other online threats, teachers can then ensure that the matter is addressed in assemblies and classes where possible.

What’s more, remember that the more unrestricted, and unsupervised access their kids get to Internet-accessible devices, the more likely they are to fall victim to cyber bullying, as they’re actively increasing their online presence. To reduce the chances that their children will suffer as a result of the behaviour of other children, they can set some limits. For instance, parents might restrict use of a laptop to after-dinner hours, and ensure that social media usage occurs in shared areas of the home, rather than behind closed doors.

Parents might also consider setting up instant-messaging or texting filters so that younger children are only permitted to communicate with close friends and family members, or use a shared account for emails so they can watch what comes in, and what goes out.

Young people spend a considerable amount of time online at home, with the latest Ofcom report stating that in 2015 close to nine in in ten 8-11s (91%) and nearly all 12-15s (96%) have Internet access at home. While the Internet is a fabulous source of entertainment and knowledge, it is essential that parents understand how to harness this resource to protect their children online.

*Figures from the NSPCC claim that there were 7,296 counselling sessions with young people who talked to Childline about online bullying and safety last year.

If you would like further support on engaging parents, E-safety Support members can assess a bank of parental engagement resources including an online parent training course which can be issued via email and allows parents to take the course at a time to suit them.

Bullying isn't confined to the school gates and its victims aren't limited to young people. It also exists at home and in our wider communities. And of course, bullying exists online: The result being a constant, and unrelenting attack. Research shows that bullying can have long-lasting and devastating effects.

Stand Up to Bullying Day (5th July 2016) is a campaign that focuses on childhood bullying as well as bullying in the wider community.

Organised by the Diana Award, the campaign hopes to:

Raise public awareness about bullying and its long term effect.

Create understanding about our collective role in tackling bullying.

Empower the public with the tools to stand up to bullying; wherever they are.

There is still time to get involved, ​You can also watch and share the #StandUpToBullying campaign video which features celebrities, young people and members of the public who have all pledged to #StandUpToBullying.

Make sure to watch out for the official #StandUpToBullying snap chat filter available to users in the UK and Ireland.

You can also download the social media toolkit and create your own #StandUpToBullying Bomerang on Instagram.

"Your support can help shape attitudes and behaviours early on, ensuring no one should have to suffer the devastating effects of bullying, at any point in their life. We hope you join us in any way you can and #StandUpToBullying"